Best Flower Gardening

According to the dictionary, the word perennial means lasting or active through the year or many years. And, that is what I like about flower gardening with perennials. You plant them once and they come back faithfully every year. Perennial gardening can provide your landscape with many years of flowers, shrubbery, foliage and lots of color. (photo courtesy: deanneart.com)

With perennials you can create a stunning flower garden just by planting lots of different plants of multiple colors. There are no set rules when gardening with perennials and these are ideal for borders, along a fence or against a wall near shrubs or evergreens.

After you decide where you want to plant some flowers, place different varieties of perennials in groups. I normally use tall perennials at the back of a wall in the garden or in the middle of an island bed and follow by planting shorter one towards the outside and low border plants at the edge of the bed. To do this, be sure to choose plants of various colors, bloom period, heights and sun/shade requirements. (photo courtesy: activerain.com)

Most perennials require lots of sun but shade loving ones such as ferns, hostas and bleeding hearts need to be planted in a filtered shaded area. What I love about perennials is that they require less maintenance than annual plants. To minimize disease problems, give perennials adequate space where there is air circulation.

Good rich soil and mulching are very important when planting a perennial garden. Soil should provide good drainage and aeration. Mulch should be applied in early summer to established plants to conserve soil moisture during the hot days of summer. If you live in an area with sandy soil, apply several inches of organic matter such as manure, peat moss or compost to the soil surface and work into the top at least ten inches. Soil to plant perennials should also be rich in Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium.

Did I mention that perennials multiply? After a growing season, you can divide some perennials to prevent over crowding. If you have spring and early summer blooming perennials like peonies and poppies, you can divide them in the fall. Mid to late summer and fall flowering perennials such as chrysanthemums and asters should be divided in the spring. But, iris and daylilies can be divided right after flowering. Either way, you can enjoy beautiful columbines in the spring, peonies in early summer, delphiniums in mid-summer and black-eyed susans in late summer all in the same bed! (photo courtesy: wikipedia)

Just remember that you don’t have to be an expert gardener to have a beautiful perennial garden. Most perennials are easy to grow with minimal upkeep in the form of watering and fertilizing. Perennial gardening has been a passion for many people because you don’t need to buy new plants each year. It does not matter whether your garden is large or smal because you can always find a wide variety of easy to grow perennial plants.

To your beautiful garden,

Diana

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

The dirty dozen: 12 plants to avoid - MSN Real Estate
At Longwood Gardens the clivia houseplant is anything but ordinary ...
Flower garden | Define Flower garden at Dictionary.com
Basics Of Flower Gardening
Flower Gardening : How to Grow Carnations From Seeds - YouTube
Garden encyclopedia topics | Reference.com


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